Chapter 12:
Shatterstar opens the battle, and faces Spiral’s guards. Fearing for her defeat, Spiral hopes to gain something and throws Sunspot off of her floating palace! Cable warns Tabitha, who maneuvers her Lockheed to catch Bobby. He thanks her, and is glad to see they received his message. Bobby recognizes Shatterstar and asks how that’s possible but, after congratulating Bobby on his mission, he promises that it’s a long story that will have to wait after the battle.
Shatterstar tries to fight Spiral, but she orders more of her guards to protect her. While fighting them, Shatterstar remembers Pierce, who gave his life to stop the menace of the Skornn, yet he fails to see any threat of the creature on this plane. He realizes Spiral just brought another danger upon this planet, and demands to know why.
Spiral smiles, and tells Shatterstar he’s asking the wrong questions. She explains that she has been on this planet and murdering people for three years now, while Shatterstar was falling down a hole with no bottom. Shatterstar defeats the guards and runs towards her, thinking that’s impossible. While defending herself, Spiral claims to control absolute time and space: she thinks of something, and can make it real. If this battle turns wrong for her, she can alter it to whatever she pleases. She slashes through Shatterstar’s stomach, and he screams from the pain. She notices it, and asks Shatterstar how he plans to survive her most horrible thoughts.
She explains that she has already killed this version of Shatterstar right before the eyes of his friends, and wants to do it again. Shatterstar punches Spiral, wanting to know if they are truly Spiral’s pawns and why he is there. He wants to know how, if Spiral can alter things, his sword can possibly come so close to her throat. She doesn’t answer. Shatterstar has had enough, and cuts through Spiral’s sword, breaking it! He wants revenge for the hundreds of lives Spiral took, and will do anything to get it.
While Shatterstar and Spiral continue their battle, Cable and his crew realize they might never get a chance like this, and decide to take it. They maneuver the Lockheeds to make a path cleared through the main courtyard, which will lead them to the armory. He orders them only to target guards and infantry, and that collateral damage is unacceptable. The rebels agree and open fire, and are glad to see Spiral’s team running for a change. Cable orders Tabitha to go back to Shatterstar, as he might need help in killing Spiral and to escape. She does as told.
Shatterstar triumphs over Spiral, mocking her. Spiral defends that she still has the blade, and can alter this outcome as she pleases. Shatterstar orders her to shut up, and he’ll finish her off now. Spiral, however, thinks that the man standing behind Shatterstar has another idea. Shatterstar thinks it’s another guard but, when turning his face, he recognizes… Dominicus Pierce! Pierce apologizes, as he was falling for eternity and had no choice. He fell and Spiral caught him. He kneels before Spiral, and asks what to do. She orders Pierce to kill Shatterstar, and then consider their debt paid.
Shatterstar asks Pierce not to do it, and to remember how this has happened in the first place, and that Spiral did this to Pierce. He holds his sword at her throat. Spiral defends that she came back for Pierce, something Shatterstar didn’t do. Spiral notices Boomer and jumps towards her, and Pierce prepares to fight Shatterstar. He hopes this is just a performance, but it isn’t. Pierce tells Shatterstar he has no idea what he has been through. He has been trapped in Limbo for over a hundred years, wishing for death every second of every hour! Spiral rescued him from it and, for that brief moment, Pierce feels he must obey her. He truly apologizes.
Shatterstar jokes that this will end as it began: with him and Pierce as enemies, and with Pierce having no chance at victory. They start to fight. Spiral confronts Boomer, and mocks that Bobby told her so much about her. She mentions that she and Bobby spend a great deal of time together. She thinks that, if Boomer would know what Spiral made him do, it would break her heart. Tabitha hesitates, but knows Bobby never loved Spiral and he was only following her orders. Spiral confirms, but thinks that if Tabitha had lived, Roberto would only spend all of their time together wishing that Tabitha were her. Boomer has heard enough, and uses her powers to fight Spiral.
Unfortunately, the bombs don’t harm her. Spiral wants to end this, and strikes the blade through the Lockheed, making it bleed and scream from the pain. It lands on Spiral’s floating palace, but both Boomer and Spiral fall off as well. Boomer is able to grab an edge, but Spiral falls. Pierce knocks Shatterstar down, but promises a quick death to him and his friends. He strikes his sword, but Shatterstar dodges and punches back, knocking Pierce of the edge. However, he also accidentally hits Boomer, who telepathically warns everyone to come rescue her.
Cable is nearby and promises Boomer that he can catch her, so she uses her powers to push Pierce away from her. Shatterstar warns Cable that he has the blade, and that he has to catch Pierce. Cable does, and orders his Lockheed to kill Pierce. It throws fire on him, and kills the man. Boomer still falls, but is caught by Sunspot. He apologizes, and explains that Apocalypse was trying to escape into some kind of portal, but he was able to reach her in time. Boomer explains that she knew he was alive for all this time, even when no one else would believe her. Roberto apologizes for all the horrible things he had to do, but Tabitha doesn’t care; she’s just glad to have him back.
Later, the team takes some time to recover. Cable thanks Shatterstar for his help, as with Apocalypse now in their custody, his people once again know peace. Shatterstar says thanks are not needed, and wants to know what’s going to happen to the blade. Cable explains that it’s going home with Shatterstar. He orders a body slide by one, and a portal opens. Cable explains that, after a bit of questioning by Boomer, Apocalypse willingly provided the device she used to bring Shatterstar there, along with the frequency for his parallel Earth. Cable has no doubt that the weapon will be safe with Shatterstar, and mentions that it’s far too dangerous for the blade to remain with him.
Cable apologizes for the rush, but is uncertain for how long Shatterstar can remain there, as there are a lot of things they don’t understand about Apocalypse’s powers. Shatterstar says there’s no burden between friends. They take goodbye, and he steps through the portal.
A second before Shatterstar enters the portal, something hits the back of his head, but does not turn. Only when he’s reached Earth again he realizes what it was: Cable’s psychic transmission echoing across both time and space. Cable telepathically contacts Shatterstar and apologizes for the intrusion, but thinks they need to force the world into something better than it is. He knows that Shatterstar holds both the strength and patience to help him, and wants to ask the warrior to take a journey to save Cable’s band of soldiers. His X-Force!
Cable ends the transmission, hoping to see Shatterstar again some day. Shatterstar agrees, and continues his journey. Later, he finds himself climbing up a mountain, and almost reaches a temple.
